Jefferson County hosts local representatives to test and verify new voting machines
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RIGBY — With 21 new voting machines, Jefferson County invited local representatives and media to verify their accuracy on Wednesday, two weeks ahead of Primary Election Day.
Cathy DaBell, the county’s election administrator, said this election cycle will be the first time the county uses these machines. Also for this election, she said the county has switched from a central vote count — in which all votes are counted at a single location — to a precinct vote count, in which votes are counted in each precinct and then added together.
The new DS300 voting machines have been undergoing logic and accuracy tests for the past few weeks, Dabell said. On Wednesday morning, the county offered the public a chance to see what it takes to pass a test.
During the day’s test of one of the DC300 machines, representatives from the county, the clerk’s office and the Republican and Democratic parties entered fake ballots into the machine. These ballots included Republican, Democratic, Libertarian and Constitution parties, as well as a few with errors.
Once that’s done, the ballots were removed and counted by hand to ensure the machine had an accurate count.
“We have been testing, probably for the last two weeks, on all of the machines to make sure that they’re reading correctly,” Deball said. “Then we actually have the precinct workers come in, and they actually test as well, so to verify for their precinct.
Dabell said the new machines will be placed in all 21 precincts in Jefferson County; a list of the locations is available on the counties website.
Aside from ensuring the machines are accurate, Deball said there’s an alert system that should help the county achieve faster results. The machines will actually alert voters if they have cast an undervote — when the voter voted for no one — or an overvote, when the voter voted for more than one candidate. The machine will also display a warning letting voters know of the issue and ask whether they want to fix it or still cast it.
“Once the ballots are actually inserted. We don’t touch the ballots after that,” Deball said. “So, once the voter puts the ballot in, there should be no need to sort those out.”
Veteran Service Officer for Jefferson County Amy Johnson told EastIdahoNews.com that she’s amazed by the work that’s been done to test the machines, and by the transparency the clerk’s office has shown in going through the process with community members.
“They offer them the opportunity that the public can come in at any time, and they can show them how it goes behind the scenes,” Johnson said.
Looking back at previous elections, Johnson has worked to count the ballots, recalling that at times it can take until 3 a.m. to count all the votes.
“It’s saving time, and it’s saving county dollars of not having to pay those people to sit there to do that counting,” Johnson said.
To learn where you can vote, visit voteIdaho.gov.